Yuuzoo, SportsHero forge app deal for fantasy sports

YuuZoo Corp., the Singapore Exchange-listed developer of third generation social e-commerce networks, has forged a partnership with fantasy sports app and social prediction platform SportsHero to bring fantasy sports to its network of more than 118 million consumers in 164 countries.

YuuZoo’s users can access SportsHero’s social sports prediction platform (SportsHero.mobi), paving the way for the creation of the world’s largest social network dedicated to sports.

Singapore-based SportsHero is a gamified social sports prediction platform where users can predict, interact, and compete in all major sports—virtually and in real-time —to become a SportsHero.

Sports prediction is a competition among users in predicting outcomes of games, matches, and competitions spanning a number of sports including football (soccer) and baseball (Major League Baseball), with Tennis, American Football (National Football League), Basketball (NBA), and hockey (NHL) in the development stage.

Under the agreement, Yuuzoo users on SportsHero can follow top players on the app – who in turn charge other players a fee to follow them (up to $100 per month) and receive real-time sports tips and predictions.

The revenue from subscription on SportsHero is then split 50-50 between SportsHero and the person being followed, paving the way for sustainable revenue model where everyone wins.

Of this, SportsHero takes 50 percent and YuuZoo takes 50 percent.

It also positions SportsHero favorably to tap into the growth of global e-sports revenue which is expected to surpass $1.1 billion by 2019, up from $463 million in 2016 – a compounded annual growth rate of over 24 per cent, according to Newzoo.

Through the partnership, SportsHero and YuuZoo also aim to connect with the rise of daily fantasy sports (DFS). In the US alone last year, 1.5 million people paid more than $3.7 billion in DFS tournament entry fees, according to Legal Sports Report.

Smartphones globally generated gaming revenues of $11.93 billion, according to Statista, which noted that contributions from eSports and fantasy sports are on the rise.

Thomas Zilliacus, co-founder and executive chairman of YuuZoo, said the tie-up with SportsHero, Asia’s first real-time sports prediction app, would provide users and sports fans worldwide a unique and quality mobile gaming experience.

“Since we founded YuuZoo, the focus has always been on our users—providing different interest groups with relevant and immersive content, and building engagement,” Zilliacus said in a statement.

“The app brings better sports predictions to fans, complete with social sentiment that leverages every fan in its community. We believe SportsHero complements YuuZoo and Circle of Champions and we’re pleased to be bringing this new dynamic, fun, and addictive and gamified mobile sports experience to a global audience,” he added.

For his part, Dinesh Bhatia, chief executive officer of SportsHero, said the deal would help introduce the real-time fantasy sports app and social prediction platform to millions of highly engaged community of sports fans.